Sigma-Aldrich signs agreement with Plextronics

St. Louis, MO, June 16, 2008 - Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL) announced today that the Company has signed an agreement with Plextronics, Inc., a leading innovator of technology for printed electronics, to distribute its organic semiconductors and conductive inks.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Sigma-Aldrich will exclusively distribute research quantities of Plexcore® OS organic semiconducting polymers and Plexcore® OC organic conductive inks globally through the Aldrich® Materials Science initiative of its Research Specialties business. Plextronics will continue to work closely with industry partners to deliver commercial quantities of the materials and focus on development of its Plexcore® technology.

 

Printed electronics - an emerging industry that takes advantage of printing technology to manufacture electronics devices - holds many possibilities for new applications including printed organic solar cells, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and flexible displays.

 

From a technology standpoint, each of these applications requires one or more conductive layers that can be integrated with organic semiconductors and other solution-processed materials to form multilayer electronic devices on a variety of substrates. Plexcore® OS is an organic semiconducting polymer, known chemically as Poly(3-Hexyl Thiophene) (P3HT) and available in two high-purity (electronics) grades optimized for use in organic transistors and solar cells. Plexcore® OC is a solution-processable organic conductive ink specifically developed for use as a charge-transport layer in organic light emitting diodes and solar cells. Together, the two types of Plexcore® materials offer a reliable technology platform for research in organic electronics.

 

CEO of Plextronics Andy Hannah indicated that the partnership with Sigma-Aldrich is an important one for the company. "The easier we make it for the research community to access our materials, the more innovation we can spur in the printed electronics field. Sigma-Aldrich has a world-class distribution network, and it is that access and expertise that we are looking for to help us put Plextronics' products into the hands of today's leading researchers," said Hannah.

 

"Scientists and engineers working to advance the rapidly developing field of printed electronics depend on the availability of high quality standard materials that they can use as foundations to develop new materials and devices. Plexcore® technology is such a reliable foundation, and Aldrich's collaboration with Plextronics will ensure that this technology will be readily available to researchers around the world," added Dr. Ilya Koltover, Technology Transfer Manager of Sigma-Aldrich Chemistry business.

 

To learn more about the Plexcore® and other organic electronics materials, visit www.sigma-aldrich.com/oel .

 

 

Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 36 countries and has over 7,900 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning website at www.sigma-aldrich.com .

 

 

Plextronics, Inc. is a leading innovator of technology for printed electronics. The printed electronics market comprises next-generation light, power and circuitry products, including flexible displays, plastic solar cells and organic RFID tags. With a company vision of enabling 15 billion printed electronic devices by 2015, Plextronics is creating technology capable of commercial-scale performance and manufacturability. The company's device design, process technology and Plexcore® branded inks enable the formation of active electrical layers - the key drivers of printed electronics. Plextronics was founded in 2002 as a spinout from Carnegie Mellon University, based upon conductive polymer technology developed by Dr. Richard McCullough. Over the past five years, Plextronics' team of scientists has refined and further developed this technology to deliver exceptional performance for printed electronics.

 

For more information about Plextronics, visit www.plextronics.com .